Start with an eight-team field, with each of the five major conferences earning an automatic bid for their champion, however each conference wants to determine such a thing. Then eliminate conference championship games.

Ohio State getting in over Penn State in a year Penn State won the Big Ten championship, won the Big Ten East and defeated the Buckeyes head-to-head is proof the committee and the sport has evolved intellectually to the point where a title game is just another “data” point anyway.

Big 12 and its pure round-robin system was the best before.

Move the quarterfinals and semifinals to on-campus sites. The championship game can be played on a neutral field, just like the NFL. The benefits are numerous. Getting Western Michigan in Tuscaloosa would be a real advantage.

The traditional broadcast will be shown on ESPN.There will be the “command center telecast” on ESPN2, which will air multiple camera views simultaneously.ESPN3 will air the “hometown broadcasts”Peach Bowl between Alabama and Washington will also have the Finebaum Film Room broadcast during the game on SEC Network

Network will provide a “multicast” to give viewers six different ways to watch the game, including a command center program on ESPN2, each local team’s radio broadcast with the regular game broadcast on WatchESPN and a sky cam.

It’s a scary proposition for Clemson that Alabama’s defensive line, the team’s definitive strength, is matched up with Clemson’s obvious soft spot.

Said one assistant familiar with Clemson: “The offensive line is a weak link for sure. Two years ago I thought they were not very good. This year at times they’ve played a little better. They need Watson running on the perimeter to negate their offensive line.”

Said another: “Their right tackle [Sean Pollard] is atrocious. I think Wayne Gallman is a special back, and he’s proven that. But they’re not going to be able to go up and down the field and hand it off to move the chains.”

It will be interesting to see if Clemson is able to incorporate anything that Washington did to slow down Alabama’s offense. An NFL scout pointed out an intriguing trend with Huskies opponents. After Washington clamped down on Washington State (45–17), it left a blueprint for Minnesota to do the same (17–12 in the Holiday Bowl). Same with Colorado, which Washington beat 41–10 before Oklahoma State thumped 38–8 in the Alamo Bowl.

The Huskies defense really only gave up 17 points in the Peach Bowl...

Did a thorough job puffing Manti T'eo's relationship with his girl friend which also preferred to remain anonymous

Sometimes it's so close you can taste it but not drink it, touch it but somehow watch it slip away. You lay it all on the line and play like a champion for 59 minutes and 58 seconds and still come up one play short and one second shy.

That's where Alabama found itself late Monday night, somewhere between absolute exhaustion and the ultimate frustration, one play short of the team's fifth national championship in the last eight years, one second shy of history.

There's no shame in losing the ultimate game, but there is pain and plenty of it. It's the pain of knowing exactly how close you were to the ultimate victory.

Clemson 35, Alabama 31 will go down as one of the best championship games in memory, if you don't wear or bleed crimson, because the sequel trumped the original in every conceivable way.

1. Alabama -- Though the Crimson Tide has flaws, it's a fool's errand to pick against the only team that has been in all three CFPs thus far. This might be the year cracks start to appear in Nick Saban's program, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

2. Ohio State --

4... Oklahoma State has perhaps the country's best quarterback-receiver combo in Mason Rudolph and James Washington.

That's right, no Florida State or Clemson. I think the ACC cannibalizes itself this year..

Scarblog: Alabama doesn't lose season-opening games, Alabama doesn't lose anywhere in Atlanta and Saban doesn't lose to his former assistants. A good Florida State team eventually buckled under the weight of those trends, and Alabama's 2017 edition left a special 24-7 first impression.

It was special because the defense allowed just seven points. That's one point for every one of last season's defensive regulars lost to the first four rounds of the 2017 NFL Draft.

ESPN analyst included Alabama and Georgia in his “way too early” top four rankings for the College Football Playoff. Alabama is second and Georgia is fourth. Clemson (first) and Oklahoma (third) round out his rankings.

That is confident, but not an outlandish scenario the way Georgia is playing. The only game it figures to be an underdog in is at Auburn, and even then the Bulldogs have had Gus Malzahn’s number, whether it be Mark Richt or Kirby Smart coaching.

Georgia Tech and Florida are also potential stumbles, especially the former with its triple-option offense, which gave Smart’s defense fits last year. That’s also not overlooking Kentucky and South Carolina, but …